


Red

by beehoony



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:18:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3112676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beehoony/pseuds/beehoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The red lyrium sings to him, and his gloves are soaked in her blood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

He regretted his decision to accompany them as soon as he could hear the lyrium's soft song. There were no words but his own thoughts, but it woke the hunger, the pain. He was a fool, and he didn't pull himself together, he would be putting her in danger. It was his own damned idea. He had slept better knowing he would be there to put himself between her and Samson. Slept better with her by his side, in the same tent for the first time, tangled in their blankets, making love as quietly as they could. She had protested at first, worried that it wasn't appropriate. He didn't disagree, but having her sleeping form pressed against him and her soft skin so easily accessible made it hard. He had woken early one morning to her hands slipping under his clothes and the last of his self control evaporated. If she wasn't going to play by her rules, neither was he. After a few heated, urgent minutes, she was moaning quietly into his neck.

He jerked himself back to the present. He tried to think of any verse of the Chant of Light, but the only one that would come to him was "With passion'd breath does the darkness creep. It is the whisper in the night, the lie upon your sleep."

She was biting her lip and trying not to look worried as she watched him. "Are you all right?" she asked evenly. Her hands reached out to him instinctively, but she balled them into fists and instead took hold of her staff. The lyrium sang to him again, when did you make her scared of touching you? You smashed your lyrium set in a blind rage. Did you see her reach out to you then pull away?

Maker, he was a selfish fool. Samson had not been his match in Kirkwall, but with red lyrium armour and his own abilities diminished since he had stopped taking it, the playing field had changed. What could one washed out ex-templar do against another one using red lyrium?

"I'm fine. There is a lot of red lyrium in there. We must be careful."

"He can hear it. I can hear it too. It eats away at them and then it wants more. They want more."

"Cole, please concentrate for a moment," she said quietly. "Cassandra, please take point. We should also find out if your Seeker gift works on ingested red lyrium. Bull, stay with her and guard her flanks. Cole and Cullen, watch my back and support them where you are able. Are we clear?"

"Let's go."

They made steady progress, encountering far fewer red templars than they had feared. Bull and Cole cut down most of them within seconds when her magic smashed them to the ground. For his part, he merely deflected the odd blow aimed at her and tried to empty his mind. She moved oddly through the battlefield with worryingly little awareness of her surroundings, relying instead on her usual subtle barrier to avoid notice. More than once she walked around the corner into a red templar as she was looking for a vantage point to help Cassandra, only for him to get between them, always terrified for her. The red templar invariably engaged him, completely ignoring her even as she pummelled it with spells.

He was going to worry even more when he wasn't there. But things were going better than he had expected; the adrenaline of battle had muted of the pain and the intrusive thoughts, although the lyrium hunger still gnawed at him. He had endured worse.

They finally reached the main chamber, and everything was ablaze. Arrows whistled past them and Cassandra and Bull were rapidly flanked by both red Templars and demons. Cole disappeared, and was flitting around them judging by the screams and the flash of daggers. The Bull roared from somewhere in the smoke; he sounded like he was in trouble. Angry, but also hurt. They needed to hurry. Things were turning bad fast, and the fire would destroy everything if they didn't end things decisively. Cullen plunged in, heading towards the qunari, striking at enemies where there gaps in their guard but not engaging them.

Cole screamed then, "No!" He flashed past, sprinting back to the entrance and seconds later, Evie's cry of pain silenced everything else. Their barriers fizzled out at that same instant.

Cullen ran too, catching blows on his arm plates as he wove through the melee. Magic flared, a barrier's light, the sound of rocks falling.

When he cleared the smoke, Evie was on the ground, a red templar shadow's dagger arm raised high above her as she knocked it back. Cole was furiously fighting another, rolling, dodging, parrying, stabbing.

The first shadow is running towards her again with dagger arms at the ready, he was too far away, Maker no, but she slows it, frost turning to ice over its armour. He throws himself at it shield first, his momentum and full weight behind the charge and the ice on it shatters. He slashes at it again and again before it can recover, sword scraping uselessly against the red lyrium on its skin, dancing out of reach of its daggers aiming for his hamstrings. When it tries to jump to its feet, he bashes it in the head with his shield and his sword's point finds a chink. He throws his strength behind the thrust and twists the sword before he pulls it out.

She is lying too still, and he cradles her to him, fight forgotten. She opens her eyes, touches his face with a cold hand and he forces a healing potion between her lips. He checks her pockets with clumsy, impatient hands, finding a lyrium potion and lifting it to her lips, growling, "Evie, you have to stay awake, you have to heal yourself. Evie!"

He puts pressure on the wound, half blind with tears as he kisses her. It's in the small of her back, and her leather armour is soaked. More warm blood seeps around his fingers. "Stay with me, Evie. I'm such a fool, I should never have brought you here, I was meant to guard you. I love you."

"Cullen." He thinks her pupils are dilating from the lyrium, her eyes are so dark that it's hard to tell. Blue and green sparks dance over her skin, racing to the wound under his hand. Her breathing settles into a more natural rhythm instead of the fast shallow breaths she'd been taking.

He almost weeps with relief when he takes away his hand and no more blood soaks through. He pulls her leather coat off, pulls up her shirt and finds a new pink scar. He holds her face in his hands, kissing her again and again, leaving red smears on her neck and cheeks from his bloody gloves. Her mouth is gentle against his, whispering, "I'm fine. It's all right."

Cassandra and Bull limp up from the smoky chamber below, coughing and spluttering. He kisses her one last time before pulling away, mind already racing. Yet another way that he had failed. He had left them to whatever had been done there heedlessly, caring only that she lived. Cole suddenly pops into view at Evie's side, face attentive and uncomfortably close to them.

"You all right, boss? What happened here?"

She takes hold of Cullen's shoulders and tries to pull herself to stand. He puts his hands on her waist and stands with her, supporting her as she sways a little, no doubt dizzy from the blood loss. She reaches around to the new scar, running her fingers over it gingerly and says with a grimace, "Red templar shadows. Two of them." She lifts her shirt a little more and he sees a smaller second new scar a few inches above, on her lower ribs.

Cassandra grips both of their shoulders sympathetically. "The chamber is cleared. We should search it quickly before the fire destroys everything."

She is smiling widely now, more than a little lyrium-drunk again. He has only seen her like this once before, months ago, and had thought at the time that she didn't use much lyrium. He had not been wrong on that count.

"Don't worry about that. I'll get the fires down." The air around her cools, and she lifts pale hands as cold mist streams from her fingers. Beyond them, the fires shrink back into corners and sputter. "It's all thermodynamics, you see. I'm the catalyst. Sort of. I take that heat and put it somewhere else. The Fade can hold it for a time. Then later, I'll make something explode."

She giggled at their blank looks and he put a water skin in her hand. She drank obediently, but it would take hours for the lyrium to wash out.

He slung his shield around his shoulders and picked up his sword again. Cassandra's lips quirked as he steered Evie towards the main chamber, but she led them through.

They passed rapidly through the now empty chamber, eventually finding Maddox in the back room. She shook her head when she saw him; too far gone.She still took Maddox's hand, let her magic flare.

"Thank you. It does not hurt anymore."

She leaned on him as they walked out, and as they were setting up camp later, tugged on his sleeve to show him the coin in her palm.

* * *

 

She sat up to drink and made the mistake of doing it too quickly. Her vision went dark until she lowered herself back down. She took it slow the second time, then finished off her waterskin and Cullen's for good measure.

He was twitching, eyes moving jerkily under closed lids. She felt a twinge of guilt; she should have drawn the glyph of warding before she had gone to sleep. He still had the occasional nightmare with it, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been. Instead she snuggled close, called his name until he woke up.

"How are you feeling?" He kissed the top of her head.

"Much better. I might have finished all your water though."

"Good."

"Bad dreams?"

"I made mistakes back there. I could have gotten all of you killed. I'm not the warrior I used to be. Not without lyrium."

"You don't need it."

"I could have lost you there. With the lyrium, I would have known they were sneaking past us, would have been fast and strong enough to keep you safe. My duty was to guard you and I failed that. Forgive me, my love."

"It's all right. I should have seen them coming. They're _big_ and _spiky_. Anyway, it all worked out as well as it could have." She tweaked his nose. "No more leaving me alone and running off to play with swords, commander. As we've seen today, that's a bad idea." "

Never. I swear it by the Maker."

"Good. Have they retrieved Maddox yet?"

"Yes. He was buried not far from here." He was running his fingers over her new scars, and they tingled a little at his touch. The healing was not quite complete. "We never really talked about Maddox."

"What's there to say? I could have been him. I could have been born in Kirkwall, and I would have been made Tranquil." His arms tightened around her and she sighed. "I don't mean to hurt you. It's as you said; if things had happened differently, you could have been with the red templars like Samson and Carroll. I might have died at the Conclave, or have been forced to fight for my life against someone like you. I was fortunate to be in Ostwick, within reach of my family's protection. But there's no sense in dwelling in what ifs. What's important is that we are here."

His scar moved under her fingertips as he smiled. "She says there's nothing to say, and then delivers a speech."

"Mocking your glorious leader now? Who can take me seriously when even my general doesn't?"

The laugh started low and deep in his chest, but he sounded solemn when he spoke. "You speak the truth. You know I am not proud of the man I was. If I had met you in Kirkwall, or Ferelden after the Blight..."

"It takes time. Don't fault yourself for it. You learned. You grew as a person. You're cuddling a mage, isn't that proof enough?"

"I don't know. Mage or not, any man would want you in his arms."

"Cullen, I keep having to remind all of you that mages are far too prone to explosions. You do not, under any circumstances, dance with them, hug them, kiss them, or, Maker forbid,make love to them." She pulled both his ears playfully. "Maker, you'd think a templar would have more sense."

"It is just as well that I am no longer a templar then." One hand pulled her hips towards him firmly and the other wandered under her shirt, calluses rough against her skin. "Don't scare me like that again. First Haven, then Adamant and now this? I never want to lose you. Always remember that." He paused after a particularly long kiss, the heat fading from his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

He frowned. "You have no battlefield awareness! We must work to correct that. We begin tomorrow. I cannot keep sending you to battle when I find it difficult to understand how you have survived this long." "You're hopeless. Go to sleep, commander. Or did you wish to calibrate some trebuchets while you were at it?"

* * *

 

 _So this was loosely based off what actually happened in game. They all ran off and then the PC was killed by a red templar shadow one-two stabbity stab. Thanks for watching my back, guys!_ :|

Companion piece to this is posted [here.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3151658)


End file.
